Chapter XXI.

Isaiah was sent by the Spirit, and accordingly the same Spirit was seen by him. What is meant by the revolving wheels, and the divers wings, and how since the Spirit is proclaimed Lord of Sabaoth by the Seraphim, certainly none but impious men can deny Him this title.

159. Since, then, He has a share in the kingdom, what hinders us from understanding that it was the Holy Spirit by Whom Isaiah was sent? For on the authority of Paul we cannot doubt, whose judgment the Evangelist Luke so much approved in the Acts of the Apostles as to write as follows in Paul’s words: “Well spake the Holy Spirit through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying: Go to this people and say, Ye shall hear with the ear and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive.”657    Acts xxviii. 25, 26.

160. It is, then, the Spirit Who sent Isaiah. If the Spirit sent him, it is certainly the Spirit Whom, after Uzziah’s death, Isaiah saw, when he said: “I saw the Lord of Sabaoth sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the house was full of His majesty. And the Seraphim stood round about Him, each one had six wings, and with two they were covering His face, and with two they were covering His feet, and with two they were flying; and they cried out one to the other, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Sabaoth, the whole earth is full of His majesty.”658    Isa. vi. 1–3.

161. If the Seraphim were standing, how were they flying? If they were flying, how were they standing? If we cannot understand this, how is it that we want to understand God, Whom we have not seen?

162. But as the prophet saw a wheel running within a wheel659    Ezek. i. 16. (which certainly does not refer to any appearance to the bodily sight, but to the grace of each Testament; for the life of the saints is polished, and so consistent with itself that later portions agree with the former). The wheel, then, within a wheel is life under the Law, life under grace; inasmuch as Jews are within the Church, the Law is included in grace. For he is within the Church who is a Jew secretly; and circumcision of the heart is a sacrament within the Church. But that Jewry is within the Church of which it is written: “In Jewry is God known;”660    Ps. lxxvi. [lxxv] 1. therefore as wheel runs within wheel, so in like manner the wings were still, and the wings were flying.

163. In like manner, too, the Seraphim were veiling His face with two wings, and with two were veiling His feet, and with two were flying. For here also is a mystery of spiritual wisdom. Seasons stand, seasons fly; the past stand, the future are flying, and like the wings of the Seraphim, so they veil the face or the feet of God; inasmuch as in God, Who has neither beginning nor end, the whole course of times and seasons, from this knowledge of its beginning and its end, is at rest. So, then, times past and future stand, the present fly. Ask not after the secrets of His beginning or His end, for there is neither. You have the present, but you must praise Him, not question.

164. The Seraphim with unwearied voices praise, and do you question? And certainly when they do this they show us that we must not sometimes question about God, but always praise Him. Therefore the Holy Spirit is also the Lord of Sabaoth. Unless perchance the Teacher Whom Christ chose pleases not the impious, or they can deny that the Holy Spirit is the Lord of powers, Who gives whatever powers He Himself wills.

CAPUT XXI.

Missum a Spiritu fuisse Esaiam, proindeque eumdem Spiritum ab eo visum. Quid per currentes rotas, alasque diversas intelligendum, et qua ratione cum Spiritus a Seraphim praedicetur Deus Sabaoth, hoc ei nomen negari nisi ab impiis neutiquam possit.

159. [Alias cap. XXIII.] Itaque cum habeat consortium regni, quid obstat quominus Spiritum sanctum intelligamus, a quo Esaias missus est? Neque enim Paulo possumus auctore dubitare, cujus sententiam 0813B in Actibus apostolorum Lucas evangelista sic probavit, ut scriberet. Denique sic habes, dicente Paulo: Bene locutus est Spiritus sanctus per Esaiam ad patres nostros, dicens: Vade ad plebem istam, et dic: Aure audietis, et non intelligetis; et videntes videbitis, et non aspicietis (Act. XXVIII, 25, 26).

160. Spiritus ergo est, qui misit Esaiam. Si 698 Spiritus misit, Spiritus est utique quem, mortuo Ozia rege, vidit Esaias, quando dixit: Vidi Dominum Sabaoth sedentem super thronum excelsum et elevatum, et plena erat domus majestatis ejus: et Seraphim stabant in circuitu ejus; sex alae uni, et sex alae alteri, et duabus velabant faciem ejus, et duabus velabant pedes ejus, et duabus volabant; et clamabant alter ad alterum, et dicebant: Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus Dominus 0813C Deus Sabaoth: plena est universa terra majestate ejus (Esai. VI, 1 et seq.).

161. Si stabant Seraphim, quomodo volabant? Si volabant, quomodo stabant? Si hoc non possumus comprehendere, quomodo Deum comprehendere volumus, quem non videmus?

162. Sed sicut rotam intra rotam (Ezech. I, 16) vidit propheta currentem (quod utique non ad corporalis refertur speciem visionis, sed ad utriusque gratiam Testamenti; quia teres vita sanctorum sit, et ita sibi concinens, ut superioribus posteriora respondeant. Rota igitur intra rotam est vita sub Lege, vita sub gratia; eo quod Judaea intra Ecclesiam sit, Lex intra gratiam. Nam intra Ecclesiam est, qui Judaeus est in occulto: et circumcisio cordis intra 0813D Ecclesiam sacramentum est. Sed illa Judaea intra Ecclesiam, de qua scriptum est (Psal. LXXXV, 1): Notus in Judaea Deus: ergo sicut rota intra rotam currit, similiter alae stabant, et alae volabant.

163. Similiter et Seraphim duabus alis faciem, et duabus pedes velabant, et duabus volabant. Nam hic quoque spiritalis sapientiae sacramentum est. Stant tempora, volant tempora: stant praeterita, volant futura: et quasi alae Seraphim, ita faciem Dei, vel pedes velant; eo quod in Deo qui nec principium 0814A nec finem habet, omnis ab hac cognitione principii ejus et finis cursus temporum feriatur. Stant ergo praeterita vel futura, praesentia volant. Ne quaeras principii ejus, vel finis arcana, quae non sunt. Habes praesentia: sed laudato, non discute.

164. Seraphim indefessis vocibus laudant, et tu discutis? Quod utique cum faciunt, ostendunt nobis non aliquando discutiendum Deum, sed semper esse laudandum. Ergo Dominus Sabaoth et Spiritus sanctus est. [Alias cap. XXIII.] Nisi forte displicet impiis doctor, quem Christus elegit: aut Dominum virtutum negare possunt Spiritum sanctum, qui donat quas voluerit ipse virtutes.